| Item: | 1879 Dubuque Rabbits – North West Champions |
| LJTP No.: | 100.124 |
| Medium: | Baseball card |
| Creator: | Key City Gas Company |
| Date: | 1879 |
| Place: | Dubuque, Iowa |
| Period: | Post-Civil War America 1866 – 1900 |
| Keywords: | Tom Loftus, Charles Comiskey, Ted Sullivan, Charles Radbourn, Bill Lapham, Laurie Ries, Alveretta, Bill Gleason, Jack Gleason, Bill Taylor, Dubuque Red Stockings, Dubuque Rabbits |
| Citation: | Baseball card. 1879 Dubuque Rabbits – North West Champions. 1879. Library of John T. Pregler, Dubuque. (Source: Library of John T. Pregler) |
| Remarks: | The 1879 Dubuque Rabbits (aka Red Stockings) were founded by Ted Sullivan, founder of the first Northwestern League of 1879. The Northwestern League consisted of Dubuque, Davenport, Omaha, and Rockford. The Northwestern League, also known as the Northwest League, was the fourth professional baseball league, the third professional minor league, and the fist professional league west of the Mississippi River. The 1879 Rabbits included two future Baseball Hall of Fame members, both starting the first year in professional baseball in Dubuque; Charles Radbourn and Charley Comiskey. The 1879 Rabbits beat the World Champion Chicago White Stockings of the National League 1-0 in a game in Dubuque (at Dubuque’s Comiskey Park) that shocked the baseball world and put Dubuque on the baseball map. The broadside was acquired from Iowa baseball card collector and Emeritus Professor of History John Liepa, who acquired the piece from Mark Rucker, adviser to Ken Burn PBS series, “Baseball”, and founder of Transcendental Graphics and Rucker Archive out of Peachland, British Columbia, Canada. |
